Another Unbalanced Mandate History Book Published

Dr Rory Miller, a Senior Lecturer in Mediterranean Studies at King's College London, UK, has had a new book published:

It's description:

In 1948, British troops withdrew from the Palestinian lands, ending over 30 years of the British Mandate of Palestine. What followed in the area now known as Israel, Palestine, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, has been well-documented and is perhaps one of the most intractable problems of the post-imperial age. However, relatively little has been written about the years of the British mandate and the long-standing connection between Britain and Palestine in the years up to May 1948. This volume takes a fresh look at the years of the British mandate; its politics, economics, and culture. Contributors address themes such as religion, mandatory administration, economic development, policing and counter-insurgency, violence, art and culture, and decolonization, in the context of imperial power and a highly complex Palestinian society. The book will be valuable to scholars of the British mandate, but also more broadly to those interested in imperial history and the history of the West's involvement in the Middle East.

"Relatively little" is not a fair term to use in this context.  There have been dozens of books published.  Most recently:

The End of the British Mandate for Palestine, 1948: The Diary of Sir Henry Gurney

The British Mandate for Palestine and its significance

and

A Senseless, Squalid War: Voices from Palestine 1945-1948


Here are the book's content:

Introduction, Rory Miller; Flawed foundations: the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate, James Renton; The impact of League oversight on British policy in Palestine, Susan Pedersen; 'Our Jerusalem': Bertha Spafford Vester and Christianity in Palestine during the British Mandate, Heleen Murre-van den Berg; Views of Palestine in British art in wartime and peacetime, 1914–1948, Antoine Capet; No holy statistics in the Holy Land: the fallacy of growth in the Palestine rural economy, 1920s–1930s, Amos Nadan; The Peel Commission and partition, 1936–1938, Penny Sinanoglou; Lawlessness was the law: British armed forces, the legal system and the repression of the Arab revolt in Palestine, 1936–1939, Matthew Hughes; 'An oriental Ireland': thinking about Palestine in terms of the Irish question during the Mandatory era, Rory Miller; Palestine, 1945–1948: a view from the High Commissioner’s office, Motti Golani; Index.

And reading that leads me to believe it is unbalanced. Not a word on Zionism as a topic. If it weren't for Zionism and Zionists, nobody would have heard of Palestine.

^

New Holocaust Theme Book Out

Dr. Rafi Medoff visited me today and presented me with a copy of his latest book, co-authored with Prof. David Golinkin, The Student Struggle Against the Holocaust:

As a member of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry since early 1964, and a participant in the first mass public demonstration on behalf of our brethren in the former Soviet Union on May 1, 1964, I am finding the book, - yes, I have already read a bit, - fascinating and depressing but will reserve judgment until the end.  No, the authors are not the cause but the Jewish American leadership's positions and attitudes were the cause.

^

Good Shabbos

“The Sabbath World” (Random House; $26)

Judith Shulevitz, a deeply intelligent journalist in her forties dissatisfied with the frenzied quality of modern life, decided to work up the tradition and practice of the Sabbath, the day of rest. It is an intellectual quest fired by a fierce desire to know, to change her life. Shulevitz displays her learning not to show off but to bring the news to an audience that she suspects has, like her, lost touch with the great tradition. In personal terms, and without sanctimony, she explores the history of the Sabbath, its philosophical foundations, its consolations, its purposes, and, in doing so, writes a swift, penetrating book intent on shattering the habits of mindless workaholism and the inability to recognize the blessings of rest, reflection, spirit, and family.

Read more:

Would You Like To Help Publish A Book?

"This Fine Hill" - Trails and Sites in the Southern Shomron

The book was written by two friends, sons of Shiloh, in memory of their brothers, Shmuel Yerushalmi and Yonaton Eldar, may God avenge them, who were killed in terror attacks.

Shmuel had an impish smile. Short, fiery eyes, and boundless energy for organizing trips and his-latest-idea with his friends. He loved animals and nature, and preferred time with them to time in the classroom. He was always involved in some way with the kids in Shiloh, whether it be an activity or trip around the country. He was killed by a suicide bomber at the French's Hill hitchhiking station in Jerusalem after taking a matriculation exam on "Eretz Yisrael."

Yonaton was an ideal yeshiva student, setting himself high goals and burning the candle at both ends. This didn't keep him from loving to walk the land of Israel, learning its history and fauna, and delving into its treasures with the same passion he dedicated to religious tracts. He was killed while learning in the Study Hall of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem.

The book has four sections:

1. Memorial

2. Introduction, written by experts in their fields, surveying the history, geography, geology, and plant and animal life of the Southern Shomron.

3. The main section of the book focuses on the Southern Shomron, where the authors grew up. The area covered ranges from Wadi Haramia (the British Police station, between Ofra and Shilo) to the city of Ariel. The geographical territory is not large, but the depth in which it is covered is comprehensive. This section includes paths for hiking. Each hike described includes historical and biblical information about the area you will be hiking through.

4. The final section covers sites and attractions (less walking than the paths in the main section of the book), including cisterns, ruins, outlooks, and more.

The book memorializes additional terror victims from the area in specific hikes which have been dedicated to their memory.

The brothers, who have put this book together, are in touch with several distributors. They have agreements which will include some advertising and and publicity. To do this and print 1500 copies will cost approximately 30,000 shekels, or $7,500. The book is ready for print, and this is the only thing that stands between them and bringing the book to life.

For more info how to be part of this write:

info@friendsofyesha.com

Info Needed on "The Accident Man"

There's a new novel out, The Accident Man.



And, since this is the blogosphere age, there's an official blog, too.

This line, here:

a larger-than-life plot that links together the Kosovo crisis of 1997 and a right-wing Christian conspiracy to start war in the Middle East by setting off a stolen suitcase Nuke at Temple Mount

caught my attention.

But I couldn't find any other reference to the Temple Mount's role in any of the reviews I tracked down.

Anyone out there who can supply more information?


P.S. This was blog post 7000.

Dirty Money

A new book on Jerusalem has just been published, well, actually an old book republished.

Entitled "Sha'arei Yerushalayim",



it is authored by Moshe ben Menachem-Mendel Reischer. This Moshe Reischer issued "Mishlei Yaakov", the book of the Dubnov Maggid's meshalim.

The book "Shaarei Yerushalyim" was published in the 1860s and is compared to the Tzuf Dvash's "Sha'ar Hechatzer".

But what really caught my eye was the inside of the title page:



And my translation:

"Printed on paper without any Shabbat violation [being involved] and from money without any Shabbat violation G-d forbid including monies from ministries calling themselves with the name of Israel but do not follow the customs of Israel and with the help of G-d [as it is written:] 'When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off' (Isaiah 27[:11] which is interpreted that when the slight merit that they possess shall be finished they will then break of themselves speedily in our days Amen"

The publishing house is called Migdalei Arnan.

Ever Taken A Ride With Her?

New book coming out on August 28 (and Jewess will be happy, I presume). It's called
Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What to Do with My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab and the authoress is Melissa Plaut.

Here's the cover:-



Yes, a Jewish Jewess hack driver.

Plaut decided to become a New York City cabbie after getting laid off from a job as an advertising copywriter, then began posting about her interactions with patrons on a blog that forms the backbone of this memoir.

Here she is behind the wheel:-



Here's a recent excerpt (okay, from June, but I was looking for Jewish content) from her blog:-

Business was pretty steady all night, but I had a long lull when I made a few back-to-back trips to Brooklyn. The first was to Midwood, a suburban-ish neighborhood largely occupied by Orthodox Jews. It was a decent job but it took forever to get there for some reason, so I hustled back to Manhattan as fast as I could. When I finally got over the Brooklyn Bridge, I turned south down Broadway and was immediately hailed by a Hasidic man.

When he got in, he said, "I'm going to Brooklyn, take the tunnel." He was, of course, going to Borough Park, just a few neighborhoods west of Midwood.

Later on, when I talked to my fellow cabbie Allen about this turn of events, he said, "What? You picked up a Hasid?" Allen himself is an Orthodox Jew. "And he went to Borough Park?" When I said yes, he laughed and said, "Well, what did you expect?!"

Again, it took me forever to get back. The BQE was backed up so I decided to take the surface streets instead. Nearly 60 blocks later, in Park Slope, I picked up a passenger. I felt lucky for a second, thinking he was going to the city, but as it turned out, he was only going a short distance, out toward the Brooklyn Museum, a six dollar ride.

More info on her here.

Here she is on her big break at ABC TV news

A Letter of Mine in Hebrew) in Today's Haaretz Book Supplement

Here

A Bit Odd

Shalem Center has published a new book, New Essays on Zionism.

After almost 20 years of non-stop academic and pseudo-intellectual post-Zionist attacks, the Center laudably has counter-attacked. I am not complaining here that this was a collection mainly of former Azure essays, making the editor's work quite simple. But I do have a complaint nevertherless.

What irks me is that out of over 400 pages, Ze'ev Jabotinsky is mentioned on three of them. Twice in one article by...Amnon Rubinstein - not quite the Jabotinsky fan even if he is quite fair about Zionist history - and once more in Ze'ev Mahgen's essay. None of Shalem's "new" thinkers seem to consider Jabotinsky worthy of deliberation.

Now, you might say that I am a bit unobjective when it comes to Jabotinsky. Maybe. However, in the past few years, there has been a new, two-volume 1300 + page biography of him, Lone Wolf; his novel, The Five, was published in English translation for the first time; an analysis of his nationalism was recently published, in English; another book, The Trumph of Military Zionism, is out; not to mention his letters, eight volumes so far and a few other books [1] [2] [3] [4]

For example, here's one appreciation:

Often slighted as a marginal or eccentric figure, Jabotinsky emerges from this account as a thinker with a coherent view of nationalism and as an extraordinarily sensitive observer who often correctly foresaw the course of political developments. His fundamental principle of mutual respect nations provides a sound basis for the development of relations among Ukrainians and Jews.

Jabotinsky was a journalist, poet, novelist as well as a politician and a statesman. He worked in the cultural as well as political field. You would think that Shalem could have found some writer who could present the potential impact that Jabotinsky's thought has for today's battles against the post- and anti-Zionists. For these were exactly the battles he fought then 70-90 years ago, with passion, logic and philosophical ethics.

Too bad.

David Rubin My Neighbor Published a Book

My neighbor's book is reviewed in the Jerusalem Post:-

God, Israel and Shiloh: Returning to the Land
By David Rubin
Mazo Publishers
188 pages; $16.95

This book touched me in a special way, maybe because I have visited Shiloh often as my daughter lives there with her husband and eight children. Yes, this town in the country's biblical heartland is beautiful, but it's more than that.

You are caught up from the first page, which is a dedication with photos to the memory of six Shiloh children killed in terror attacks. The book is also for all the others who didn't survive. Then comes the Introduction:

"Blood was gushing out of my leg like an open fire hydrant in an inner-city neighborhood. The car had gone totally dead and we were rolling down the road. I turned the ignition and it didn't start, and they were still shooting!"

Thus begins Rubin's true account of his and his three-year-old son's miraculous survival of a drive-by shooting on the Road of the Patriarchs. With the little one buckled into his car seat in back, they were halfway home when Rubin heard on the radio that an Israeli driver had been shot in a different part of Samaria. At that moment a hail of bullets struck his car.

He believed that his son, who remained completely silent, was merely in shock. Miraculously the engine restarted on the fifth attempt, and he drove at 120 kilometers an hour to Ofra, the nearest settlement, where a paramedic discovered the toddler had been shot in the neck. Rubin was informed by the PR director of Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein Kerem that he had the dubious honor of being the 1,000th victim of terror to be hospitalized there in the past 18 months.

However, the book does a lot more than detail his traumatic experience. Liberally sprinkled with biblical passages, it tells the story of a journey, physical and spiritual, of a secular American Jew (related with great candor) who becomes Orthodox, marries and raises a family in Shiloh, becomes its mayor and founds the Shiloh Israel Children's Fund after the attack on him.

He is a powerful spokesman for the much-maligned "settlers," particularly on speaking tours in the US, where he addresses both Jewish and Christian audiences.

The book has 10 chapters explaining the historical and spiritual significance of Shiloh and the miracles that have occurred to enable its modern resettlement. Beginning with Joshua 18:1 "The entire assembly of the Children of Israel gathered at Shiloh and erected the Tent of Meeting there," we learn how Joshua led the Israelites to the heart of Ephraim's inheritance, 32 km. north of Jerusalem, where the portable Tabernacle would be given stone walls and remain for nearly four centuries.

Rubin takes us on a historical journey to help us understand the imperative to take possession of the Land. Israel's entire being is inextricably linked with the Land of Israel, as "its global, universal mission was intended to be carried out from there, as the Lord first proclaimed to the first Israelite, Abraham."

Rubin wanted good to come out of evil, so he established the Shiloh Israel Children's Fund to support educational, recreational and therapeutic projects, noting that "there is not one child in Shiloh who does not have a parent or a sibling or a friend or a neighbor or a teacher who has been killed or wounded in a terror attack."

This book is a powerful testimony to the importance of Shiloh - biblical, historical, geographical, political and spiritual. According to the author: "The reborn Shiloh of today is a center of dedication to the Land of Israel and its Torah, and has an important role to play as leader of the redemptive process for Israel, and ultimately for all mankind."

A very thought-provoking, well-written and insightful study of a very special place.

Buy a Book

Go here.

"Grains Of Sand: The Fall Of Neve Dekalim" puts a human face to the people of Gush Katif as it closely follows the story of a family from pre-Intifada until Disengagement. The reader is given a rare opportunity to look into the heart and soul of the Gush Katif residents. Most of the scenes in the book really happened and vividly reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people who lived there during those difficult times.

AVAILABLE NOW:

Grains Of Sand: The Fall Of Neve Dekalim
© 2007, ISBN 978-965-7344-19-4, soft cover, 188 pages

UK Jewish Memories

Harry Bernstein, I learned, grew up in a Lancashire street with Jews on one side and Christians on the other. Now, at the age of 96, he has written a memoir recalling the tensions that the split created.

Here's a review, interspliced with my comments.

Harry Bernstein knows all about walls. You might say he was a connoisseur of forced separation, of the erection of barriers to keep people apart. But the walls he knows so well are not physical, built of sand and stone like the Moroccan Wall in the Western Sahara or out of great concrete blocks like those going up between Israel and the Palestinian territories [they had to get that in - and wrong, too] or along the American border with Mexico. Bernstein is an expert on the walls of the mind. He spent his childhood at the time of the first world war living in the shadow of just such a wall.

...The wall that ran down East Street was religion: Jews lived in one row of houses, Christians in the other. Bernstein lived on the Jewish side, in a family that like most there had fled the pogroms in Poland and Russia. He has written a memoir of his childhood growing up on the street, The Invisible Wall, in which he recalls the personal tragedies that such segregation brings.

...His memories certainly come very much alive in the book. His side of the street was a miniature ghetto, though it lacked the brutality of the fully formed versions of continental Europe. Sometimes the tenants at the Christian sweet shop on the other side would mutter "bloody little Jews" when he walked in, and when he started going to school he was in perpetual fear of being ganged up on by older lads with their war cry: "Who killed Jesus?"

But for the most part the hostility was uttered sotto voce - and it cut both ways. "We were taught that when we passed a church we were to spit at it. There was as much bigotry on the Jewish side as Christian, maybe more." [but we Jews never did that while the goyim were watching because we knew it was wrong] The Jews had a word to describe the rougher Christian elements - betsemas - the etymology of which Bernstein has never managed to divine.

...On Friday and Saturday nights the Jewish families would have to call on their Christian neighbours across the way to light their fires for them - in return for some small change - as they were forbidden to do so themselves on the Sabbath. Bernstein's "fire goyah", as they called her, was Mrs Green, a toothless woman who used to shoot anti-semitic remarks at them when she was drunk but was otherwise accommodating.

Just occasionally the taboo against collaboration was broken, with extreme consequences. Bernstein unwittingly helped one such catastrophe to unfold, by carrying love letters in a bottle between a Jewish girl on his side of the street and a teenage Christian boy. When the liaison was discovered, the girl was severely beaten by her father and promptly dispatched for ever to Australia. [where there were probably many more goyim]

Bernstein's sister Lilly suffered a barely less dramatic fate when she fell in love with a Christian boy over the road. When her mother learned the truth, she sat shiveh for Lilly - a seven-day ceremony of mourning for her "dead" daughter.

It turned out to be emotion, not poverty, that acted as the great leveller. The day a telegram arrived saying that the son of a Jewish family had been killed in the trenches of France, the whole street, Christians included, turned out to console his wailing mother.

...He quickly cast off his Jewish faith on arrival in America and at the age of 13 refused to have a bar mitzvah. "What it has done for me is to make me feel that religion is the worst evil that has been inflicted on the human race. Until religion diminishes its grip on people's minds, there will never be real peace."

He no longer has a Lancashire accent; when he arrived in Chicago he was put in an English class for foreigners...